Another one where the riff came first, on the last day of RPM 2020 actually. Before all the craziness struck. I thought to myself "Oh self! That's a good riff! I will need to revisit it next year for RPM 2021." So I did. It also has a call-back…

Never forget the simple pleasure of just listening to music. I wrote a whole album about it a few years ago called The Lost Art Of Listening. This one's about how a song can simultaneously take you away from the concerns of life, yet make you…

What else can be said of the last 12 months? Everybody wants a piece of my time. Get in line. The riff came first and I walked around for days just banging it out non-stop. Hammer-ons for fun and pleasure...

Originally I had a Motown idea in mind, and I kept my stomping and clapping, but the song seemed to lend itself to a more spacey-synthey feel, so I ran with it. I also am hinting a tiny (very tiny) bit at Joe Jackson's band's backing vocal styles…

Originally conceived as a mellow-ish, Stephen Stills sounding number (at least the verses), then the chorus came to me out of nowhere and turned the whole song on it's ear. I think that was for the better. I have to admit that I surprised myself…

John wrote this somewhere around 1972 or 1973. This is pretty much a song about the conflict of self vs. what you think is expected of you and the casualties that are impacted along the way. There was probably a lot of James Taylor influence…

Written and recorded as part of our family RPM project this year. :-D 13 year old Jasmine on vocals and ukulele. We wrote and recorded 10 songs under the name Cattica. It was just the best month of lockdown imaginable.

Poem by June Webber, vocals by Jazz, music by Mike Smith

Well the song tells the story of the morning.... a lovely bleak, cold day. I decided on a simple a cappella arrangement to fit the feeling of the day. Happy Winter Solstice everyone! To brighter days ahead!!!! My Old Bones Know Better…